Where Do Broken Hearts Go? | Breaking up with a boyband member

I’m going to let my inner fangirl speak to you today. A week ago today, my heart was ripped out of my body. Or at least, that’s what it felt like. Zayn Malik of One Direction officially called it quits on his time with the world’s most popular boyband of the 21st century.

“Don’t be such a baby!” Is probably something you’re internally yelling at me, but hear me – and the world of Directioners – out. True, he’s just a boyband member (or was) but we need to remember the fact that music can be an escape to so many people. Whether you’re the type of person to consider the pop genre as “not real music” or whatever your opinion, music always means something to someone.

One Direction’s fanbase mainly consists of a young age group, as young as five up to young adults and even beyond and to a lot of young people who are coping with the pressure of school, puberty and the struggles of growing up, sometimes having a boyband or any artist to lust over and be a fan of is indeed an escape for them. While it may be considered funny or pathetic to you that teenage girls are distraught, but if you have ever been a huge fan of anyone like The Beatles, Take That,etc. you’d understand.

My parents think my fangirling craze is a little OTT but they also understand. When news broke out about Zayn, instead of telling me to get a grip my parents consoled me. They knew what I was going through. My dad was crazy for The Beatles from a young age and even agrees that if social media existed back then, he would probably be in my position. My mother was a huge fan of Queen, so she also understands. So, instead of telling me to get a life or grow up, they comforted me and agreed that if it was upsetting Zayn that much being in the centre of attention, then it’s for the best and we should support him. And I couldn’t agree more.

For those thinking Zayn is overreacting for leaving, you should bare in mind that he went from college kid nobody to international popstar within less than a year. Yes, he did choose to audition for The X Factor, but so do thousands and it rarely gets to this height of fame. They have literally made history in the music industry and some people find their ways to cope, others simply cannot. I guess Zayn was one of those people. He’s always been a reserved and “mysterious” character, only letting his true side shine when with people he is most comfortable with.

Days before the decision was made and announced, Zayn was signed off tour with stress. While people don’t understand what he has to stress about and he doesn’t have “a proper job”, he works much more than most. Touring the world 9 months a year, timezone changes, working out to keep fit enough to do all of this, press conferences, recording, studio work, promo, press junkets, performing, it all adds up and at this extreme it can take it out of you, especially when the media gets involved – in particular, the paparazzi.

Malik was papped with a female in Thailand and although cheating assumptions have been made, the real story has yet to be confirmed and nobody knows the truth besides Zayn and that girl. I want to say he isn’t the type of person to cheat, but at the end of the day, I don’t personally know him. Whatever actually happened, though, is actually nobody’s business and to have to put up with your personal life splashed all across the global media clearly has a huge impact on someone’s mental health.

Stress can cause mental health problems, and make existing problems worse. For example, if you often struggle to manage feelings of stress, you might develop a mental health problem like anxiety or depression.

Mental health problems can cause stress. You might find coping with the day-to-day symptoms of your mental health problem, as well as potentially needing to manage medication, health care appointments or treatments, can become extra sources of stress.

This can start to feel like a vicious circle, and it might be hard to see where stress ends and your mental health problem begins.

If you know a fan of One Direction who is upset over this, please don’t make it worse for them by putting them down for this. Console them and help reassure that things will be okay. You never really know how much an artist can help a person – particularly at a young age.

I sincerely wish Zayn nothing but best wishes and luck for the future, whatever his plans may be. I will forever be grateful for the fact that he follows me on Twitter and so proud of what he has achieved in such little time and at such a young age.